Safety and Standard Operating Guidelines

Endurance DTS is committed to safety and operating with wisdom in all of our activities. While some activities may be spiritually, physically and emotionally stretching at a personal and team level, we make every effort to ensure a safe, yet stretching, learning environment.

In order to maintain a safe learning environment, we have created a set of standard operating guidelines specific to EDTS (which include both industry standards, YWAM Montana standards and EDTS expectations). We will go over the specifics of these expectations the first week of the school. It is important that all applicants understand that our EDTS operating guidelines and procedures may differ from previous outdoor experiences or other outdoor programs that they have been a part of.

For example, we operate under Leave No Trace outdoor stewardship ethics to the degree that we don’t burn trash in our fire pits. This may differ from how you operate individually in the backcountry, but as a team it is important that we are on the same page.

As a part of the interview process, we will review some of the major expectations in this area of safety and EDTS SOGs. Please take a minute to familiarize yourself with the following guidelines.

EDTS Standard Operating Guidelines (SOGs) and Protocol for Staff and Students

General:

 General Safety Expectations (Adapted for EDTS from the YWAM Montana Staff Handbook)

YWAM Montana staff and students are expected conduct themselves in such a way that reflects Biblical wisdom and safe operating practices. The biggest single factor in insuring your safety while serving with YWAM Montana is you! It is your responsibility to both yourself, and those serving alongside of you, to practice safe work/ministry habits. In some areas closed-toe shoes, safety glasses, ear and eye protection and other preventative safety gear is required. Please follow all safety rules and use appropriate safety devices in the area where you are serving or when participating in a YWAM MT/EDTS activity.

Safety is a cooperative endeavor and must be kept constantly in mind by all of us. Exercise common sense and good judgment in all that you do as you serve and participate!

 Communication

o Good communication is essential to the well being of the EDTS group. Each participating member of the team should do their part to ensure that good communication happens. This includes asking appropriate clarifying questions to presented material, confirmation that safety material has been clearly communicated, making your needs known, especially with regards to health and safety, and actively participating in all briefing and debriefing exercises as they arise. Please be honest with God, yourself, your peers and your school staff and leaders.

o School leaders are in communication with appropriate YWAM MT base leaders to communicate details before trips and upon returning to base.

o Students should be checking in back home (with parents, family, pastors, friends) on a regular basis. While the EDTS staff will be sending out updates throughout the lecture and outreach phases, primary communication regarding EDTS activities to parents, family, pastors and friends is the responsibility of each EDTS student/staff participant.

o YWAM Values #13 and #18 speak to the importance of good communication among the EDTS team

#13. BE RELATIONSHIP-ORIENTED YWAM is dedicated to being relationship-oriented in our living and working together. We desire to be united through lives of holiness, mutual support, transparency, humility, and open communication, rather than a dependence on structures or rules.

18. COMMUNICATE WITH INTEGRITY YWAM affirms that everything exists because God communicates. Therefore, YWAM is committed to truthful, accurate, timely and relevant communication. We believe good communication is essential for strong relationships, healthy families and communities, and effective ministry.

 YWAM MT, DTS and EDTS guidelines apply to off-base trips, campsites/campgrounds and outreach unless otherwise stated.  Understand that there may be protocol, practices, guidelines and procedures per our guides and permits and/but that EDTS may have a more/less strict practices. In general, the stricter protocol, practice, guideline and procedure will be followed.  Always think and act like a group leader o Think twice, act once – the risks you take as an individual are different than the ones you take as a group leader  Personal equipment/gear o If you aren’t willing to give it away, lose it, or have it stolen then please don’t bring it along or take it on outreach  Buddy system o YWAM MT policy for outreach o EDTS policy for off-base trips . Highly recommended for weekends and off-time  Exclusions: o Campground – tell someone where you’re going, what you’re doing and when you’ll be back to camp  A few “please don’t ever do these things…” o Cliff jumping o Throw rocks, roll boulders, etc off a cliff, hill, trail

Camping, Backcountry and Skill Specific:

 Campground etiquette o Practice Leave No Trace (LNT) principles and ethics o Follow all campground rules. Some of these may include: . Camp in designated areas . Burn fires in designated fire rings only  Put a fire out completely – No smoke visible and it is “cold” to the touch . No gathering/collecting wood (even down wood) . Observe quiet hours o Don’t burn trash – nothing gets burned in fires except wood o Use bathrooms if available o Practice bear awareness and safety . Don’t leave food items (water bottles, etc) out when not in use or and please do not have them in your tents . Packing  Toiletries in separate bag (preferably wrapped in a plastic bag)  Clothes in other bag(s)  Scents, food, etc in bear boxes  Other gear in vestibules  Valuables to be left in vans/locked in if necessary . Bear spray at all times  Whenever you’re hiking, site-seeing, etc – bear spray must be “at the ready” on backpack strap, belt, etc  “hey bear” & noise “hup, hup, hup”  Bear spray at night in tents  Never spray your clothes/gear with bear spray as a repellent

 Backcountry etiquette o LNT principles o Practice bear awareness and safety o Don’t pee in the kitchen! o Please go out of view to pee (do the best you can to be totally out of view w/o going off too far) – honor your neighbors o Leave a campsite better than you find it!  Keeping a clean camp o Staff will appoint a member (or members) of the team to oversee that the camp is tidied up and “buttoned down” each night o Last one to bed ensures food put away and camp tidied up  Camp hygiene – backcountry and mission field – Biblical worldview o No shoes/footwear in tents  Camp cooking o Wash hands/sanitize o Glove up if necessary o Knife safety o Be cautious of boiling/hot liquids  Safety Standards o Hatchet, axe, knife, saw safety – please wear closed-toe shoes when using saws, hatchets, axes, mauls. Students - boots must be worn when using axes/mauls. Practice safe knife use and handling (especially in the kitchen when preparing meals). “Crocs” or other similar, thin, close-toed footwear will not be allowed. *As students display proficiency in their axe/maul use and safety, staff will determine if they can transition from wearing boots to close-toed shoes o Bear Safety must be practiced at all times o Biking . Helmets must be worn at all times when biking o River/Rafting/Boating . PFDs to be worn at all times unless otherwise communicated o Hiking . Hike expectations will be communicated before a hike o Group/Team Building . Comfort, growth, danger zones . Ropes course standards o Water . Don’t drink directly from streams . Standards  Filter, purify, boil or treat unless it came out of a tap/source that is safe to drink out of . Swimming  Don’t swim past you ability level  Swim with a buddy . Be careful when viewing and exploring water features on hikes, trips and around parks/wilderness areas  Please avoid slips, trips and falls into streams and rivers  Drowning is the #1 cause of death in Glacier National Park  Follow all park rules pertaining to swimming and entering water . Swiftwater  Please do not enter any moving swiftwater without first consulting with an EDTS staff member o First Aid Protocol . Prevention . Be prepared with the medication, bandages, treatments you may encounter while participating in EDTS . Make any health concerns known to the staff o Fire . Keep fire in designated fire rings . Keep a 5-gallon bucket of water nearby when at a campground site *Anyone building a fire is responsible to also fill the water bucket or equivalent water storage container and inform the group of where that water is located *On backcountry trips please try to have at least 1 gallon of water nearby for fires . Observe all fire bans/guidelines o Lightning/Inclement Weather . Please use caution and discernment when participating in an outdoor activity and selecting campsites. Be aware of changing weather conditions. If necessary, get out of the elements and find appropriate and safe shelter. o Climbing Safety . See “Rock climbing/Rappelling Standard Operating Guidelines”